This invention relates to a method and apparatus for drying a semiconductor wafer, which can dry the wafer in a manner keeping the wafer clean.
A conventional apparatus for drying semiconductor wafers is adapted to dry a plurality of such wafers in a batch at one time, as disclosed e.g. by Japanese Patent Application No. 89212/1980 published under Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 57-15416. That is, it comprises a rotor, and carriers mounted in the rotor and accommodating a plurality of semiconductor wafers in a manner spaced from one another. As the carriers rotate together with the rotating rotor, water droplets on the surfaces of the wafers in the carriers are dissipated or scattered due to centrifugal force produced by the rotation of the carriers to thereby dry the wafers.
However, such conventional drying apparatus has drawbacks. For instance, portions of the wafers in contact with the carriers cannot be promptly dried. Furthermore, since the surfaces of wet wafers in air are easily charged with static electricity which attracts dust or dirt, water droplets scattered by centrifugal force from some wafers which still contain such foreign matters contaminate clean surfaces of the other wafers during the drying process.